The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Dendranthema grandiflora and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Yococoa Beach.
The new Chrysanthemum is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Salinas, Calif. and Fort Myers, Fla. The objective of the breeding program is to create new potted Chrysanthemum cultivars with desirable inflorescence form and floret colors, good substance, and excellent postproduction longevity.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross made by the Inventor in October, 1994, in Salinas, Calif., of a proprietary Chrysanthemum seedling selection identified as YB-5547 as the male, or pollen, parent with the Chrysanthemum commercial cultivar Rage, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,770, as the female, or seed, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor in Fort Myers, Fla., as a single flowering plant within this population in November, 1995. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form and floret colors.
Asexual reproduction of the new Chrysanthemum by terminal cuttings harvested in a controlled environment in Fort Myers, Fla., has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Yococoa Beach has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Yococoa Beachxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Yococoa Beachxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Chrysanthemum:
1. Upright and uniformly mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching, dense and full plants.
3. Strong dark green foliage.
4. Uniform flowering.
5. Early flowering, eight-week response time.
6. Ability to be grown as either disbudded or center budded plants.
7. Very freely flowering; about seven inflorescences per lateral stem.
8. Large daisy-type inflorescences that are about 8.5 cm in diameter.
9. Dark orange bronze-colored ray florets with variable yellow bases and bright yellow disc florets.
10. Excellent postproduction longevity with inflorescences and leaves maintaining good substance and color for more than three weeks in an interior environment.
Compared to plants of the culitvar, Mobile, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,335, plants of the are different in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum are more upright than plants of the cultivar Mobile.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum have a more attractive inflorescence form than plants of the cultivar Mobile.
3. Ray florets of plants of the new Chrysanthemum are more orange and have less yellow coloration at the base than ray florets of plants of the cultivar Mobile which are more red in color.
4. Disc florets of plants of the new Chrysanthemum are slower to mature and maintain their immature green coloration longer than disc florets of plants of the cultivar Mobile.